Royal Forest of the Peak
Picture: Castleton from the Castle
The Royal Forests of Yorkshire included Bowland, Galtres, Hartforth, Knaresborough, Langwith Hay, Pickering, Ryedale, Skipton, and Spaunton forests. Derbyshire has the Royal Forest of the Peak, and Nottingham has Sherwood Forest. This entire ancient forest extended from Nottingham Castle walls to Leeds. At the centre is Ecclesall Woods in Sheffield.
William the Conqueror established Derbyshire’s Peak Forest for his personal use. This “happy hunting ground,” meaning a place rich in wildlife, covers 180 square miles from Longdendale to the Wye Valley, through the Dark Peak and the Yorkshire Dales. King Richard chased a heart out of Sherwood and into Barnsdale. When it outran the king’s horse, King Richard proclaimed an order at Tickhill Castle and other places, saying not to harm it. People knew it as the “Hart royally proclaimed.”
Thousands of deer roamed the Peak Forest, and in the reign of King John, men and dogs died when they stampeded. Poaching was rampant, and five members of the nobility working together poached two thousand deer in six years. The courts confiscated their land and hereditary titles. Their families lost everything, and the children had nothing to inherit. The village of Tideswell, within this Royal Forest, hosted the King’s Larder, kept by the King’s bailiff, Roger Lestrange. He preserved the venison with salt and transported it to the keeper of the King’s larder at Westminster, 160 miles (ca. 257 km) away.
Nottingham’s Sherwood Forest lacked the flora and fauna of Derbyshire’s Peak Forest. The clay soil of the Trent Valley floodplain was poor compared to Yorkshire. More trees meant more coal, and in Sheffield City alone, there were 51 working coal mines, let alone other Yorkshire towns. It is a different story in Nottinghamshire, for there were only thirteen coal mines in the whole county. They were at Bestwood, Brinsley, Bulwell, Cinder Hill, Cossall, High Park, Hucknall, Kimberley, Linby, Moorgreen, Newcastle upon Nottingham, Newstead, and Wollaton.
To compensate for the poor soil in the Trent Valley flood plain, the religious houses of Lenton Priory, Rufford, and Welbeck in Nottinghamshire established granges in the Peak Forest. King John bred his sparrowhawks and hunting horses there in the booths at Edale. To prevent the monks from disrupting the hunting, he commanded the Canons of Welbeck Abbey to keep their cattle away from his sparrowhawks nesting sites between mid-April and July 24th. Only Milbank Forest on the Welsh border or the New Forest could offer better hunting.
Copyright © 2020, Graham Kirkby All rights reserved NEXT PAGE
The Royal Forests of Yorkshire included Bowland, Galtres, Hartforth, Knaresborough, Langwith Hay, Pickering, Ryedale, Skipton, and Spaunton forests. Derbyshire has the Royal Forest of the Peak, and Nottingham has Sherwood Forest. This entire ancient forest extended from Nottingham Castle walls to Leeds. At the centre is Ecclesall Woods in Sheffield.
William the Conqueror established Derbyshire’s Peak Forest for his personal use. This “happy hunting ground,” meaning a place rich in wildlife, covers 180 square miles from Longdendale to the Wye Valley, through the Dark Peak and the Yorkshire Dales. King Richard chased a heart out of Sherwood and into Barnsdale. When it outran the king’s horse, King Richard proclaimed an order at Tickhill Castle and other places, saying not to harm it. People knew it as the “Hart royally proclaimed.”
Thousands of deer roamed the Peak Forest, and in the reign of King John, men and dogs died when they stampeded. Poaching was rampant, and five members of the nobility working together poached two thousand deer in six years. The courts confiscated their land and hereditary titles. Their families lost everything, and the children had nothing to inherit. The village of Tideswell, within this Royal Forest, hosted the King’s Larder, kept by the King’s bailiff, Roger Lestrange. He preserved the venison with salt and transported it to the keeper of the King’s larder at Westminster, 160 miles (ca. 257 km) away.
Nottingham’s Sherwood Forest lacked the flora and fauna of Derbyshire’s Peak Forest. The clay soil of the Trent Valley floodplain was poor compared to Yorkshire. More trees meant more coal, and in Sheffield City alone, there were 51 working coal mines, let alone other Yorkshire towns. It is a different story in Nottinghamshire, for there were only thirteen coal mines in the whole county. They were at Bestwood, Brinsley, Bulwell, Cinder Hill, Cossall, High Park, Hucknall, Kimberley, Linby, Moorgreen, Newcastle upon Nottingham, Newstead, and Wollaton.
To compensate for the poor soil in the Trent Valley flood plain, the religious houses of Lenton Priory, Rufford, and Welbeck in Nottinghamshire established granges in the Peak Forest. King John bred his sparrowhawks and hunting horses there in the booths at Edale. To prevent the monks from disrupting the hunting, he commanded the Canons of Welbeck Abbey to keep their cattle away from his sparrowhawks nesting sites between mid-April and July 24th. Only Milbank Forest on the Welsh border or the New Forest could offer better hunting.
Copyright © 2020, Graham Kirkby All rights reserved NEXT PAGE